Quest for a Plunge: Panache Aria Plunge 34GG

Aria is part of Panache Black--Panache's more sophisticated, mature label. It first came out in Autumn/Winter 2015 and has since been discontinued. I found it on amazon and decided to give it a shot.

28-38 D-H

It is a fully molded cup with tan panels that look like they could be sheer but are part of the bra. While I was excited about the design of Aria, it's actually almost a bit too minimal for me. Plus, if you've been reading a while you'll be shocked to find that this molded cup didn't work for me in the fit—most do not.

Looks:
I'm in love with the interesting criss-crossing geometric lace design on Aria. It makes me really desperately want a similar geometric design on an unlined bra, where the illusion of skin could be genuine. As I said, it's almost too minimal despite the visual interest. I would have loved a little glint of metallic hardware, like a charm at the gore. Also where the straps meet the cups feels a bit unfinished, a missed opportunity to make the design seem more luxe. (It does have some nice gold loops connecting the straps at the back). Given that this is part of Panache Black, I kinda hoped it would be a bit more fancy with more details given Panache Black also tends to run a bit more expensively.

You can sort of see the gaping issues on the right breast.

Fit:
As you may suspect, given my history with molded bras, Aria is far too shallow for me. The cups seem true-to-size but the bottom of the cups fold as they can't support my breasts. The cups also gape badly with movement, which is to be expected with a molded bra, but it is very apparent here. One thing I appreciated is the low gore, at 1 inch. Unfortunately the bra is actively fighting against the shape of my breasts which doesn't make it the comfiest option either.

Comfort:
My main complaint about Aria is that the shallowness of the cups make the wires dig in painfully. However the fabric is incredibly soft. So I suspect if you have less projected breasts and need a plunge with a very soft foam construction that Aria may work much better for you.

With Aria, I've basically closed the door on UK molded bras. Of course, never say never, and I'll probably try some on again. But the inevitable lack of projection means that no matter how beautiful the bra is, it will likely not work for me. I guess I'll stick to my favorite UK unlined bras as they are truly the bedrock of my lingerie collection!